The “transparency” administration of President Obama is promising more of just that in the briefing room at the White House, where reporters have crowded into a standing-room only facility for daily meetings with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
The promise came in a meeting between Les Kinsolving, WND’s correspondent at the White House, and Gibbs after today’s briefing.
Kinsolving raised the issue that most of the reporters recognized for questions are among the same handful over and over again. Some of them have been given four or even five opportunities for questions while other reporters are not recognized at all.
“Thus far in the new administration you have called on only a small number, a handful of reporters at press briefings. This handful of select reporters have been allowed as many as four or five questions each,” Kinsolving said in a statement prepared by WND founder and editor Joseph Farah.
“With the limits of time set on these briefings, this has meant the vast majority of correspondents have not been allowed the privilege of asking any questions. President Obama has pledged greater transparency in government, greater openness. I would like to know if we can expect our correspondent and others besides those regularly called upon by you thus far to get a fair shot. Are you willing to allow the extra time or limit the number of questions asked by the handful of usual suspects to facilitate this kind of openness and transparency?”
Gibbs responded, “Well, first of all, obviously, my speaking directly into your microphone denotes the exact openness and transparency with which this president has decided to run his administration.”
“For which I’m very deeply grateful,” Kinsolving said.
“I hope you will pass that message along to your bosses,” Gibbs said.
“I will pass it along,” Kinsolving said.
“I think you also know as a longtime member of the briefing room that the length of each briefing is controlled not by any staff member of the press office but indeed the correspondents that work in that room,” Gibbs said. “I look forward to answering questions from everyone in that room. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of moving around the room, but there’s always room for improvement and we’ll do better.”
Gibbs was referring to the tradition at White House briefings that questioning is ended when the Associated Press correspondent says “Thank you,” whether or not other reporters have had an opportunity to ask questions.
But the problem had been typified by one situation earlier in the week. There were 79 reporters in attendance at the briefing and most raised their hands to ask questions. Only 19 were allowed to ask their questions, and several of those were given four or even five opportunities to ask questions.
Kinsolving, one of the more senior journalists in the White House press corps, was not allowed to voice his questions on issues on which millions of WND readers have expressed an interest. In fact, sometimes WND questions submitted to the White House are taken directly from WND’s Mr. President forum, where queries are submitted by readers.
Kinsolving said the fact that he cannot ask a question every briefing is not the point; but the fact that some reporters are given four or five opportunities is.
“Why are so many of us not recognized for even a single question?” he wondered.
The press briefings are complicated by the Obama administration’s reliance on reporters from the front rows of the briefing room. There were complaints about the time of the November election that not only did Obama rely on a few key reporters for questions, those reporters were chosen ahead of time.
Les Kinsolving |
Kinsolving has been a member of the elite White House press corps since 1973, during the administration of Richard Nixon. He later sparred with press secretaries for Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
He also serves as a radio talk show host and has served as a nationally syndicated columnist for 250 newspapers, two of which, in San Francisco, nominated him for the Pulitzer Prize.
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